Post-Season All-Star Angelo Songco Returns To Saints

ST. PAUL, MNMay 7, 2016

Just as camp is about to open up the St. Paul Saints are getting one of the best hitters in the league back for the 2016 season. Angelo Songco, who put up record numbers in 2015 and battled teammate Vinny DiFazio for Player of the Year honors, will return for his third season in St. Paul.

Songco had his contract purchased by the Dodgers in January and went to spring training with the team that drafted him in the fourth round in 2009. After being released by the Dodgers Songco elected to sign with the Saints for the season.

The 27-year-old Songco had a season for the ages in 2015. He hit .339 with 17 homers and a franchise record tying 82 RBI. In 96 games he scored 64 runs, roped a team tying high 26 doubles, six triples, a .415 on base percentage and a .580 slugging percentage. Those numbers earned him the Post-Season All-Star nod at first base. Songco led the league in total bases (214) and extra-base hits (49), was second in slugging percentage, tied for third in homers, fourth in hits and fifth in average.

He became just the 16th player in Saints history to homer in three straight games, and the first to homer in back-to-back playoff games, when he hit a long ball on September 4 vs. the Gary SouthShore Railcats and then in the first two games of the playoffs at the Sioux City Explorers. In the playoffs Songco went 5-16 with two homers and drove in six of the seven Saints runs.

“This is a great day for Angelo, he deserves this opportunity,” said Saints Manager George Tsamis. “He was excellent for us all season long. He plays hard and was clutch. He was a big run producer all year and you have to love his hustle.”

Songco’s name appears in the Saints career record book for home runs (5th with 33), RBI (7th with 148) and extra base hits (9th with 90).

The 2015 season was highlighted by a number of accomplishments on the field for Songco. He was named the Pointstreak American Association Player of the Week for the week of July 27-August 2 and he hit safely in 11 straight from August 9-20. He also set a career high by doubling in six straight games from June 26-July 2.

Songco was a fourth round pick of the Dodgers out of Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles in 2009. He progressed through the Dodgers organization and turned heads at nearly every level. At his first professional stop in the Rookie League at Ogden he hit .306 with nine homers and 29 RBI in just 36 games before being promoted to Single-A Great Lakes.

The following season, in 2010, the accolades started pouring in for Songco who was selected as a Midwest League All-Star. In a full season with Great Lakes he hit .274 with 15 homers and 74 RBI in 135 games. Among his 15 home runs was a grand slam on May 26.

The big breakout season for Songco came in 2011 at High-A Rancho Cucamonga where he earned a California League All-Star appearance, a post-season All-Star nod and was an MiLB.com Organizational All-Star. The numbers were astounding as he hit .313 with 29 home runs and 114 RBI in 131 games. In 534 at bats he scored 110 runs, mashed 48 doubles, had four triples, a .367 on base percentage and a whopping .581 slugging percentage. He finished first in the California League in total bases (310), extra base hits (81) and doubles, second in home runs and RBI, third in hits (167), slugging percentage, runs scored and home runs/at bat ratio (1/18.41), fifth in at bats and seventh in batting average. On May 25 he hit for the cycle, completing the feat with a triple in an 11-run ninth inning. He hit his second grand slam in as many years on September 3.

Songco missed more than half the year in 2012 after fracturing his leg and having a rod placed in the leg.

In 2013 Songco spent the season between High-A Rancho Cucamonga and Double-A Chattanooga. Between the two stops he hit .257 with 11 home runs and 65 RBI in 117 games. In 381 at bats he scored 45 runs, ripped 20 doubles, six triples, had a .341 on base percentage and a .491 slugging percentage.

The Saints have signed 20 players this off-season, 12 position players and eight pitchers.

The 2016 season begins on Thursday, May 19 at CHS Field with a 7:05 p.m. game against the Gary SouthShore Railcats.